Tel Aviv Diary: Karen Alkalay-Gut

Your faithful restuarant correspondent here with another update. I promised myself that if I worked hard all morning I’d go out for lunch. So the lunch at Benny Hadayag in Herzlia Marina was a prize even before I walked in. But it was a prize anyway. Although I was a little upset with the aquarium on the back wall which looked a little too narrow to be comfortable, with a mirror at the back to give it the appearance of depth, I was very pleased with the food. And there was a lot of it. Before we began to order there were little plates on the table – chraime (morrocan spicey fish), salads, eggplant with tehina, etc etc ad invinitum. Maybe because I was with someone famous there was more on the table that would have been the ordinarily, but I took advantage and tasted everything – at least 10 dishes. Then the delicious shrimps. Ay ya yay. All very simple and succulent. And then coffee and Malabi worth saving place for. I don’t think I’ve ever been there before but I’m sure I’ll be back. And it was empty when we walked in, and only one quarter full when we left. The only problem is that I don’t know what the bill was.